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Wednesday, 8 February 2012

A Letter To My Younger Self.

Dear Anne,

Now I am older and wiser I can look back at my life with hindsight. I have found that along life's way I made mistakes,who hasn't? Not huge mistakes, just ones that would have gave me possibly a richer and more fulfilled life. So I am going to tell you what I have learnt in the hope that perhaps on another universe somewhere, sometime, we can make it perfect.

Please do not leave school when you are sixteen.You are good at English and French so stay and do some highers. Take time to think what career you really want and don't allow anything to stand in your way and by that I mean your own insecurities about what you can and cannot do.

No matter what you think you see when you look in the mirror, you are slim and one day when you look back at photos of your younger self you will realise this. Enjoy it while you're young as after you're forty five you will no longer be slim, it's called "middle age spread"

Try your very best to have a better relationship with your father, it does get better after you leave home but with a bit of work it could be better earlier. Stop arguing with him and always trying to have the last word, it's not smart or clever. Persuade him to stop smoking. I know you do moan at him about it but maybe a serious talk will make him listen more. It may give him another ten years with his family.

When you're eighteen you will fail your driving test and you will give up. Please don't do this, you have a terrible driving instructor who plays Elvis songs at top volume while he is teaching you as well as encouraging you to drive too fast. He will book your test long before you are ready to sit it. Oh, and stop closing your eyes when large trucks drive past you.

I have to tell you that you married the right man, yes,you got that one right Anne you found your soul mate when you were seventeen, good on you! The only piece of advice I can give you here is try not too miss out on socialising with friends, there will be a few you will loose touch with and never see again.

When you have children, buy a good camcorder, save for one because when your children have grown up you will be so annoyed that you have no home movies of them as youngsters.

You will go through a phase in your late twenties and early thirties where you write poetry, please don't stop, keep going and write stories too. It's silly to let all these years go by without writing when it's always in your head.

While you're still young, learn to play the piano, ride a bike, a horse and ski, because these are the things you will look back at and wished you had done but even now I suppose there's still time although it's a lot harder to learn when you're older and stiffer.

Believe your mum when she tells you that inside her head she still feels like a young silly girl and when she looks in the mirror she sees someone else. You will understand this more when your own children grow up and you become a grandmother.You will look in the mirror one day and know exactly what she meant.
If I could sum up my advice to you I would say,"Be a little more adventurous" That is all.
Have a happy life
Love Anne x

What would you say in a letter to your younger self? All the celebrities are doing it, they've even put their letters in a book, so now it's your turn, I'd love to know.......

15 comments:

Oh Anne, this made my eyes well with tears. You write so beautifully. I always enjoy your blog posts as they come straight from the heart. I think about horse riding, ski-ing and playing the piano too (and hope that my children will do them). I should be making home movies of my family. I take loads of photos but thanks for reminding me of all this.p.s. I don't think it's possible to stop anyone from doing anything if they don't want to (re your father)p.p.s.thank goodness you married the right man...!xxx

This was so moving, Anne. I'm sorry you weren't able to stop your father from smoking and you're so right that we should have been more adventurous when we were younger. It's all a bit dangerous now. And what's more I see that you've worked out how to post up those fun moving pictures. Yay!

I loved this! I wish I too could go back and talk to my younger self, and tell her to stop being so hard on herself and to believe that she is good and worthy to be treated well, it took me til my twenty's to know that! I found you on blogaholic. My blog is http://bridgetsdaughter5.blogspot.com come visit if you want! I joined your site because I love your writing!

Love this post, Anne. So much of it resonates. Especially the part about meeting your soul mate at 17 (I did at 16) and this: "When you have children, buy a good camcorder, save for one because when your children have grown up you will be so annoyed that you have no home movies of them as youngsters." I have about FIVE videos of my girls. Wish it were more.

What would I say to younger self? What others think REALLY does not matter.

Anne, I gave you an award, if you go to my blog (Bridget's Daughter) you can pick it up. I know this might not mean much to you but I give it to you with much respect. Oh I wrote the article yesterday.

I loved this post - very poignant. It shows the way in which we readjust and adapt our sense of self as we move on in life. As well as this it shows how much we are like those Russian dolls with smaller and smaller complete selves - at 30, at 19, at 13, at 7 - all lodged one after another inside our latest self. They are all there, worth a visit now and then.w.